Technical Timing/cam belt interval

[stu4art]

Hi Forum,
can anybody tell me the interval replacement TIME or KM for the timing/cam belt? and may be what you'd expect to pay for the replacement (prob. with water pump.)
and how long have you gone over this time (under no guarantee of course that this is a given allowance )

cheers Stu

 

[Davefridge]

My B is 20 years old. I changed the timing belt last year. That one was 11 years old but only done 16,000Kms. I didn't bother to change the tension pulley. Timing belts should last 8 to 10 years unless high mileages are done.
Don't know about cost as I've always done it myself but I recon belt kit including pulley can be bought for about 100 quid (I use Gates Powergrip). About 5 hours labour.
Hope this helps

 

[stu4art]

Cheers Davefridge

 

[Professorwho]

Mine cost about £200 for parts and labour for belt and pump replacement.

 

[eramosa]

Hi guys. the warm weather is finally here in southern Ontario and my toy is laid up in my garage. Even with the low Ks of 29,000, being 20 years old I thought I would change the timing belt, the variator, water pump and tensioner just because I had them. Besides my buddies Barchetta has 66K on it and it actually needs the variator changed.I thought I'd get a heads up on mine MISTAKE!! All those parts were in mint condition, plus this has to be the tightest belt to install in existence.New parts are in but not the belt I'm getting help on Wednesday. At sixty nine years I,m still learning this lesson..if it ain't broke -DON'T FIX IT!!

 

[gar074]

Hope it goes well for you, eramosa. I tend to take the same "If it ain't broke..." approach with machinery, but the problem with a cambelt is that, if it does break, it's sooooo expensive to put right!

Mine had a new cambelt 8 years ago, so I really should replace it, but it's done less than 10k miles in that time. There's a huge temptation to say, "Let's leave it until next year", but I said that last year, too!

 

[eramosa]

I certainly know how you feel gar074, but when I inspected this belt it looked positively mint, zero wear, no cracks,nothing.I remember my first Honda Goldwing. Honda originally never had a replacement part number for their timing belts, they expected them to last indefinitely.But the Fiat 1.8 TC is an interference engine so we all think what if.

 

[111rob0]

Hi guys, better safe than sorry, got my b, in September last year, it was straight down to a fiat dealer for the belt change, £200, the car had been previously. Looked after by DTR they suggest a car of this age should be done every 3 years regardless of the low miles

 

[Davefridge]

Every 3 years! That's ridiculous. They're just after your money. 8 to 10 years is fine unless you're doing mega miles.

 

[gar074]

Every 3 years! That's ridiculous. They're just after your money. 8 to 10 years is fine unless you're doing mega miles.

That was my reaction, too.